you might try spraying it with a mixture of 1C acohol, 1C water, with 1T dish detergent, if it is a common bug, it will take care of it, it will not hurt the plant. Good Luck with saving the plant.

Those are scale. Lots and lots and lots of them. Doubt the suggested home remedy will work.

Thank you for your inputs jean001a and Gmamcgraw. 2 small plants have already given up on me :( i have 3 bigger plants and for now wiped the leaves clean with a cloth soaked in a solution of water with a few drops of dish washing liquid and oil (read on another post on this forum)..

Please do let me know if you know a way to keep these off.

Regular maintainence c Safer soap will usually help. You can also spot check daily to combat any new scale that pops up c a Q-Tip dipped in alcohol. Tedious, but effective.
Are your plants indoors or out?

Thanks Leafhead. I have wiped all leaves individually. I live in an apartment and my plants are in pots outside my flat in the corridor.

By the way, there are small bugs including ants in the soil in the pot. Is there a way to get rid of them without insecticides?

The ants are there to "farm" the scale, which excrete a sweet honeydew that the ants love.Gently shake the ants out of the root ball and replant. Once you are rid of the scale, the ants will have no reason to come back.
What do these small bugs look like?

Hi Leafhead,
Thank you so much for the info.
The insects in the pot are white in color and 1 to 2mm length. They look like tiny snails without their shells. They move fast though! They are so tiny, I cant capture them on camera.